One shell of a mystery
by K.J.V.D3
Summary: Percy, Annabeth, Thalia and Nico all set off on a quest together, because once again the gods cannot be bothered to do the job themselves. Join our heroes as they try and find one of Aphrodite's special possessions. (Some Percabeth moments.) Rated T in case of future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or the HOO series. The brilliant Rick Riordan does!**

**Chapter 1.**

"Hermes!" Aphrodite's yell rang through Olympus from the golden Olympian palace. No body throughout the whole of Olympus gave it a second thought though. Everyone there was used to the screams and shouts coming from the palace at the centre of Olympus which was the home of the twelve Olympian gods and Hestia.

"Hermes I'm going to kill you!" Aphrodite screeched. She burst in to the throne room and scanned every face, chair and statue.

"Please, Aphrodite, calm down. What's wrong?" Her uncle Poseidon said in a calming manner. Aphrodite's face drained from red to her usual perfect complexion.

"I'm sorry, but Hermes has stolen from me!" Aphrodite accused throwing her hands up in the air.

Poseidon chuckled lightly but not so much that he insulted Aphrodite. Even he didn't want to feel her wrath.

"Yes, Hermes does tend to steal things." Poseidon noted. Aphrodite sighed.

"Yes but this time it's personal. This thing is so important to me. I can't believe he stole it. Once I get it back and have him cornered he will face my wrath." She promised.

"Okay? Aren't you being slightly… dramatic about this?"

"No, how could you suggest such a thing, uncle. I am a highly sophisticated lady with perfect looks, why would I need to be dramatic when my looks are flawless and attract so much attention anyway."

"You're really modest too." Poseidon commented. Aphrodite sniffed.

"It doesn't matter. I'll kill Hermes if it's the last thing I do! He should never have taken that shell." She growled.

"What shell?"

"My shell obviously. Honestly Uncle Poseidon have you been keeping up with this conversation at all?"

"I know it's your shell but what's it for? What does it do? Why is it so important to you?"

Aphrodite stiffened knowing that she had said way too much.

"Oh it's nothing. I don't know why I mentioned it. I should really go and find Hermes." She said airily. Poseidon looked at her as she drifted away through the throne room and into one of the long corridors of the palace.

Poseidon strode into the middle of the throne room and sighed. He'd have to do everything himself.

"HERMES!" He bellowed. Hermes appeared in a flash of blue light even before his name had rolled off of Poseidon's tongue.

"You called?" Hermes asked with a bow. Whenever one of the big three called for a god, that said god would have to appear right away unless it was drastic measures. However, if it was another god, one does not have to be in such a rush to meet up with them- especially if they are after your head.

"Yes. I hear that you've stolen again, you little thief." Poseidon started off. Hermes cocked his head to the side as though in thought.

"I have stolen today. There was that satyr's flute, which was a good thing because he was a terrible player and a nymph's hair clip, which I think may have been a gift from her distant cousin but who cares, and I stole a rainbow snow globe from Iris' shop, and probably some other stuff to." Hermes said trying to remember everything he stole but failing miserably.

"No, Hermes, I mean from the twelve Olympian gods. You know, your close family." Poseidon said. Hermes thought about it for a moment when something seemed to click.

"Oh no lord, Uncle Poseidon. I would never steal from you, Father Zeus or Uncle Hades… much. But I haven't stolen from any of you today!" Hermes defended.

Poseidon studied him with a close eye and Hermes stood up tall and proud eyeing his uncle back. It was clear to Poseidon that the wrong thing had clicked in Hermes' brain. He wasn't the smartest god; he should definitely leave that job to Athena.

"I'm not talking about the big three. I'm talking about Aphrodite." Poseidon said. Hermes paused for a moment before nodding.

"Oh… what about her?" He asked letting his confusion flow. Poseidon shook his head.

"You stole from her." He said slowly. Hermes nodded again.

"Oh… I haven't stolen from her in a while." Hermes admitted with a hint of shame in his voice.

"But she's missing a shell of sorts. I don't know what it is… she won't tell me." Poseidon said thoughtfully.

"Look I haven't stolen any shell-type thing from her at all. The last time I stole from her was yesterday and that was her favourite pair of heels, nothing shell like about them." Hermes confided. The two gods paused.

"Well if it wasn't you…then who stole from Aphrodite?" Poseidon asked nobody in particular.

Suddenly the doors to the throne room burst open, again courtesy of Aphrodite. She scanned the room again and this time spotted her target; Hermes, and began to walk over to him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to all who reviewed and favourited and all that jazz!**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately I still don't own PJO or HOO! I wish I did but Rick Riordan beat me to it.**

**Chapter 2.**

"So we have to go and find a shell that belongs to Aphrodite because no one knows where it is and the gods can't be bothered to do it so we have to?" Percy concluded.

He was sat at the Ping-Pong table in the big house along with Annabeth, Thalia and Nico. Chiron was standing at the head of the table looking down at the demi-gods. He nodded.

"Yes Percy. Hermes is being blamed for the theft but he swears on the Styx that he has nothing to do with it. Aphrodite still doesn't believe him though. Hermes has looked as much as he can but he is very busy and contacted me to put my best demi-gods on the job. So here you are. You make a great team. Do you all except?" He asked. The four demi-gods looked at each other cautiously before slowly nodding their heads.

"Sure why not? Can't be any worse than our other quests right?" Thalia declared. Everyone nodded and looked down at the table remembering their last quests.

Chiron coughed.

"Would you like to go consult the oracle?" He asked, but to the demi-gods it sounded more like an order and they knew it was. They nodded and stood up to leave.

"Hold on; one more thing. You have a deadline." Chiron announced. Percy slumped back into his chair.

"What's new?" He asked the heavens in a grumpy manner. Annabeth dragged him off the chair and intertwined her hand in his and he instantly calmed down.

"Please let me finish. The deadline is in a weeks' time; that's when Hermes thinks Aphrodite will explode and make him take the blame. So you must hurry." Chiron finished. The demi-gods groaned as they left the big house to go to Rachel's cave and get a prophecy.

They reached to top of the hill in no time and before they had made it into the entrance the red head bounded out and hugged Percy.

"Hi. I haven't seen any of you since I transferred to my new school. I've missed you all so much!" She rushed out like she was afraid someone might stop her. Annabeth first adopted an angry look at Rachel for hugging Percy but then her facial expression changed to one of surprise when Rachel turned around and hugged her.

"We've missed you to Rachel but we thought you got back yesterday." She said. Rachel let go and nodded, not even bothering to hug Thalia and Nico since they weren't that good friends.

"I did, but you never came to see me and I was busy unpacking so I didn't have enough time to see you guys. But you're here now! Come in!" She offered. She turned on her heel and walked into her cave with the others trailing behind.

"Look Rachel I wish we were here for a friendly, friend visit but we're not." Percy said with a bit of regret in his voice. Rachel turned at this and stopped everything she was doing just to stare at her friends in confusion.

"What? Why?" She asked in a slightly whiney voice.

"We need a prophecy, we're going on a quest and we have to go as soon as possible. Our deadline is in a week's time so we don't have much time." Thalia said bluntly. Rachel pouted a bit but nodded.

"Um… sure. Okay I'll do my best." She sniffed. She sat down and scrunched up her nose in concentration. The four demigods sat down to and waited for their prophecy.

After a while Rachel let out a long sigh and opened her eyes. Her prophecies didn't just come whenever she requested; they came at completely random times.

"I'm sorry. I still haven't got the knack of it." Rachel said. The four nodded and made to stand up.

"It's fine Rachel, we'll see you later at dinner right?" Percy asked. "Rachel?" He turned to see Rachel's green eyes looking at him but they weren't quite Rachel's eyes, they had an ancient feeling about them and looked as if they knew everything from past, present and future.

Green mist started swirling around Rachel's feet and slowly swirled up and around her body until the only thing the four demi-gods could see was Rachel's head alone in a cloud of green mist.

'The four strongest demi-gods  
will be chosen for a new task  
to retrieve a shell from thick fogs  
a purpose hidden behind a mask  
emotions will ride high  
and one may deceive the god of the sky.'

An ancient voice that didn't belong to Rachel echoed throughout the cave followed by a loud 'thud' as Rachel collapsed on the rock hard floor.

"Ouch. Looked like that may have hurt." Thalia noted as the four demi-gods stood watching Rachel on the floor, none bothering to make a move to help her up.

"Yeah. Poor soul." Nico commented duly. "Let's go."

The four walked calmly out of the cave leaving the crumpled heap of Rachel on the floor.

* * *

"And you just left her there?" Chiron asked.

Thalia, Annabeth, Percy and Nico were at the big house telling Chiron about the prophecy they had just got.

"Yeah." Thalia nodded absently. She kicked her feet up on the Ping-Pong table they were sat around and she began examining her nails.

"I see." Chiron said with a nod. "Now I would like you to go and pack for your quest. You will leave tomorrow."

The four demi-gods got up and started to walk out of the door.

"And just before you do that you can go and get Rachel off the floor and put her on her bed and when she wakes up you will tell her why you left her there. Then after dinner you may wash the dishes as well. You must remember to respect our oracle and not just leave her dumped on the floor. Have a nice day." Chiron said.

The four left the big house quietly not wanting to moan until they were sure that Chiron was out of ear shot otherwise they might get a worse punishment.

"I don't like washing up." Thalia complained once they had reached the cabins.

"It could be worse." Percy noted. They all nodded and then shuddered at the thought of a punishment they had once got for helping the Stoll brothers pull a prank on Mr D.

They had to… actually its best if no one knows. (I don't want to scar you for life.)

**Sorry for the late update. And also sorry for any bad grammar and spelling.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed and favourited.**

**Disclaimer: I really, really wish that I owned the PJO or the HOO series, but alas a certain Rick Riordan crushed my dreams.**

**Chapter 3.**

Percy and Annabeth jogged into the big house to wash the dishes.

"Sorry we're late." Percy said as he entered the kitchen hand in hand with Annabeth. They both had a wild look in their eyes and Thalia and Nico both had a few ideas on why.

"Where have you been?" Thalia asked suggestively wiggling her eyebrows. Percy and Annabeth blushed a little but not so much to give Thalia the satisfaction.

"We were walking on the beach about to leave to come here when we ran into a certain god of thieves who would like to stay at a certain camp for demi-gods." Percy said.

"What?" Thalia dropped the plate she cleaning back into the sink and took off her yellow plastic gloves and stomped outside the big house and headed towards the beach. Nico placed the plate in the sink and followed Thalia. Percy and Annabeth smirked and walked out after them.

It didn't take them long to reach the beach. Thalia stood in the middle of the wooden pier and looked around the beach, looking for any sign of life.

"Where is he?" She questioned Percy and Annabeth.

"I'm not too sure. He probably… let's see. He most likely went to his cabin if he's wanting to stay here." Annabeth strategized. The others nodded and followed her away from the beach and towards the Hermes cabin; cabin eleven.

"Hey don't you think we should tell Chiron. I mean a god's here and no one but us and the Hermes cabin knows and… well we should tell Chiron." Annabeth said.

Everyone stopped walking.

"Okay then Percy and I will go and get Chiron and you two can go and keep Hermes at the Hermes cabin. You may as well question him to and find out why he's really here." Annabeth said.

"No way! I am not staying with a boy Annie I'm going with you." Thalia said quickly and ran to stand next to Annabeth.

"Don't call me Annie. Just for that I'm saying no. You can go with Nico." Annabeth growled. Thalia didn't look too please with that.

"But Nico's annoying. At least let me go with Percy. He's bearable even if only a little it's hell of a lot more than Nico!" Thalia whined. Annabeth smirked.

"Not my problem." She grabbed Percy's hand and dragged him off towards the big house.

"Great now I'm stuck with dead brain." Thalia muttered to herself.

"You do know that I'm still here and can hear you right?" Nico pointed out. Thalia rolled her eyes and stomped off towards the Hermes cabin and without even bothering to knock or wait for Nico burst through the door.

Thalia scanned the room with her electric blue eyes and found a pair of bright, mischievous blue eyes met hers.

"Hermes get out." She growled.

"Ha, nice to see you to sis." He said with a wink.

"Why are you here? If you have enough time to spend here with your kids then you have enough time to look for this ridiculous shell rather than letting us do it." Thalia growled.

Hermes paled at the mention of the shell but he soon returned to his normal tanned self just as quickly.

"I am still very busy Thals so I can't look for this shell." He said.

"Don't call me Thals." Thalia growled coldly.

"Thalia." Nico's voice sounded from behind her. She turned to see his pale skin glowing in the moon light.

"What?" She spat.

"You just ran off without me. Some great cousin you are." Nico grumbled. Thalia ignored him and turned to focus on Hermes again.

"Why are you here?" She asked calmly. Hermes opened his mouth to answer but was stopped when they heard the sound of hooves on the ground galloping towards them.

Thalia and Nico turned to see Chiron standing behind them with Annabeth and Percy running behind him trying to catch up.

"Lord Hermes could you please come to the big house with us?" Chiron requested. Hermes smiled and nodded.

"Why not. I can't sleep anyway." He said.

The six of them walked back to the big house leaving the rest of the Hermes cabin staring after them with a look of shock and confusion on their faces.

"What the Hades was all that about?" Travis asked no one in particular. Connor shrugged.

"I have no idea. We're never kept in the loop. Let's go to bed." He suggested.

"Bed? Why bed when with them out of the way we have a perfect opportunity to prank?" Travis noted. Connor smiled and followed his brother out into the dark night.

* * *

Back at the big house everyone was sat around the Ping-Pong table looking intently at Hermes.

"Okay fine. I'm here because Aphrodite is scaring me. I think she's out to get me." Hermes confided.

"Oh really you don't say? You don't suppose it has something to do with the fact that she thinks ou stole from her?" Thalia muttered sarcastically.

"I have come here as a refugee. Please take me in. You'll hardly see any of me anyway I'll mostly be working and that's global so I don't think I'll be here much. Please!" Hermes begged.

The four demi-gods looked down at the god of thieves with a shocked expression; a god was begging? This was new.

"Um Lord Hermes maybe you could sleep in your cabin with your kids. We'll accept you of course but once all of this is over you know that you must go back to Olympus. We can't have all of the gods coming here for sanctuary after a spat with their siblings." Chiron said. Hermes nodded his head eagerly.

"Yes Chiron. Oh thank you, thank you so much." Hermes stood up and brushed himself off.

"I will go and make myself comfortable. Good luck on your quest guys, for my sake of course. You have nothing to lose here." Hermes smiled as he walked out.

"Yeah, except our lives. Your frickin' immortal what's it to you?" Thalia grumbled.

"What is with you?" Nico rounded on Thalia. Thalia looked at him with a shocked expression before recovering and scowling.

"He- it's nothing." Thalia said. Percy and Annabeth looked down at the table knowing the exact reason.

"What do you mean it's nothing? What do you have against Hermes?" Nico asked loudly. Thalia stood up pushing her chair backwards against the wall.

"It's none of your business but if you must know; that is the god who raised Luke. He blamed Annabeth for Luke's mistakes. He only cared about Luke being Cronus after the war for a small amount of time. Now he doesn't care and walks around like a smug little… god! He just acts as though everything's fine and nicknames everyone and smiles and winks and just acts relaxed when he was the one in the wrong in for staying away from his own son and making him feel rejected. All of the gods were responsible for that war and all they can do is smile and act calm. I'm sorry but I don't like it!" Thalia shouted. She finished her rant and stormed out of the big house and towards Artemis' cabin where she could sleep in peace with the other campers.

Artemis never had anything to do with the war she had no children, Thalia was somewhat grateful for that and preferred to stay in Artemis' cabin rather than Zeus'.

"Um… I didn't know-"

"It's fine Nico. The war has just finished and still sore for everyone. Nobody likes to talk about it but seeing the gods like this; acting as though nothing had happened is… annoying. Thalia's right; they just carry on as though nothing's happened. They expect everyone to forgive them and move on with them. They don't understand. Thalia has every right to be annoyed at the gods. She still is. Not just Hermes though, every god." Annabeth said. She stood up and left Nico, Percy and Chiron alone in the big house.

"Dude she's your girlfriend, shouldn't you go after her?" Nico asked. Percy shook his head and sighed.

"No, she needs some time alone. Just leave her." Percy leant back in his chair and looked at Chiron.

"We'll leave tomorrow morning and look for the shell. They'll eventually get over the war and everything will be fine." Percy said. Chiron nodded and walked out of the room further into the big house to go to bed.

Nico and Percy stood up to leave.

"How does this not affect you? That prophecy was about you yet it affects them more." Nico pointed out as the two boys made their way to the cabins.

"It hurt them more because they knew Luke and was all a family. They were affected more than I was. All I had to do was defeat a titan posing in a friend's body; Thalia and Annabeth had to fight a family member and his army to save the gods that were using them as pawns. It isn't fair on them to have to go through that. Nico, they suffered worse than I did." Percy confided. Nico stayed silent for the rest of the walk and didn't even wish Percy good night as he walked into the darkness of his cabin.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I had a debate with Rick Riordan about who should own the PJO and HOO series. He won. He's really good at debating (and writing).**

**Chapter 4.**

Percy groaned as he turned in his bed completely miscalculating where he was and rolling on to the floor with a loud thud.

"Percy? You okay?" Asked a deep voice from the bed on the other side of the room to Percy.

"Er yeah thanks Tyson." Percy said as he stood up and put his duvet back on his bed in a crumpled heap.

Tyson was only staying at calm for a week before going back to Poseidon's palace under the sea to help in the forges. Percy was upset about this because he would have to leave that morning and wouldn't be able to see Tyson all holiday because of the quest.

"I- I'm gonna go to breakfast. I have to leave soon anyway." Percy grumbled as he looked at his alarm clock and noticed that it was 7:00 am. The rest of the camp would only have to be ready in half an hour but Percy was leaving at 7:10 am with the other three so had to be up earlier than usual.

He still had the Achilles curse so it was hard for him to wake up normally but when you've just bonked your head hard on a wooden floor, even if it didn't hurt, it tends to act as a mini wake up call.

He quickly had a shower and got dressed then ran out of the cabin and towards the dinning pavilion where Annabeth was already waiting. She was sitting alone at the Athena table playing with her cereal.

"Hey Wise girl. Sleep well?" Percy asked as he stood at the head of the Athena table and smiled down at her. She weakly smiled back up at him.

"Yeah I guess." She muttered and then turned back to her breakfast.

"Hey, are you okay?" Percy asked. He slipped into the seat beside her and put a reassuring arm around her shoulders as she shivered.

"Yes- well no. It's just what Nico said last night. I can't stop thinking about it. I had another nightmare about the war again. I thought they had stopped but once Nico and Thalia brought it up again the nightmares came back. In truth I didn't get much sleep at all last night. I kept waking up and thinking that Luke had won or Cronus had really overpowered him. Or that you died. Or that- I just-" She sniffed as she held back silent tears. Percy held her tighter.

"Don't worry Annabeth. I'm still here and Cronus hasn't won. Luke is gone and he died a hero, he overpowered Cronus and fought for the right side in the end. I'm here for you whenever though." Percy comforted. Annabeth smiled up at him and kissed him on the cheek as Nico and Thalia walked in.

"Urgh get a room. Or another planet. Preferably the latter." Thalia complained covering her eyes. She kept on walking in though and ended tripping up on the marble stairs leading down into the pavilion. Nico burst out laughing as she face planted the floor and Percy and Annabeth both had to stifle a laugh so they didn't feel the wrath of Thalia.

"Oh so you think this is funny death breath?" Thalia asked turning on him. He was still at the top of the steps doubled over with tears streaming down his face.

"Hell yeah!" He gasped. Thalia glared at him but Nico was laughing too much to notice.

Thalia pointed a finger at him and a lightning bolt shot out at him. He thrashed about a little before also falling down the steps. He lay still for a while before getting up and glaring at Thalia.

"That was uncalled for Pinecone face." He said.

"No it wasn't. You deserved everything you got." Thalia hissed back. Nico raised his hands and a group of skeletons rose from the ground each equipped with a sword and wearing army gear.

Thalia mimicked Nico's movement in a mocking way but even as she mocked lightning shot out of her fingers and hit each skeleton in the chest shattering them in to thousands of little pieces of bone. Nico looked down at his warriors and then up at Thalia.

He pushed out a hand towards her and a deathly darkness encased her. She shot a lightning bolt in Nico's direction but it was absorbed by the dark wall.

"Hey!" Nico protested. "It's not supposed to suck it in! It's supposed to bounce of the walls and hit you!" Thalia laughed.

"Oh poor baby Nico still needs training." She cooed. Just then the darkness exploded and began to spread around the pavilion along with Thalia's lightning bolt. Both the darkness and lightning were going to cover the camp.

Percy stretched out his arms and a wall of water covered the pavilion so nothing and no one could get out.

"Great now what do we do. We're stuck in here thanks to Percy's 'brilliant' plan." Thalia complained.

"Yeah, Percy. You ruin everything. How are we supposed to go on our quest now?" Nico added.

"Excuse me? Do you want me to let this water wall go because as soon as I do Nico's darkness covers the whole camp and your lightning bolt will shoot everywhere hitting everyone? And it'll probably expand to cover the world to. So if I were you I'd be nice to the awesome sixteen year old who is keeping you from getting another punishment from Chiron. And possibly your dads." Percy said smugly.

Thalia and Nico didn't look too happy with being nice to their cousin but nodded.

"Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Thalia?" Chiron's voice reached their ears. "It's time for you to go. Where are you?" He asked. The four looked at each other with a worried expression.

"Percy do you think you could contain the darkness and lightning in a little water ball or something so we can carry it around with us?" Annabeth asked.

The big three children shook their heads.

"Annabeth; always with a plan." Thalia smirked. Annabeth smiled at her but then turned to Percy with a look of urgency in her eyes. Percy nodded and brought his outstretched arms into his chest. The water followed and soon Percy had a small room of water with darkness and lightning in it.

Slowly Percy moved his hands around as though he was making a ball out of play dough and the water followed his movements. It didn't take long until there was a ball of water in the middle of the pavilion. Percy walked towards it and picked it up; it was no bigger than a 50p coin.

Percy put it in his jeans pocket and looked up towards the pavilion door as the clopping sound of hooves moved towards them.

Chiron emerged from the door and smiled down at his favourite pupils.

"Ah, here you are. Are you all ready to go because Argos is ready to take you on your quest? It's your choice to where you go." Chiron said.

"Thanks. Maybe we should head to Olympus and question Aphrodite I mean we don't even know what this shell looks like nor what it does or who would want to steal it." Annabeth suggested.

"Good idea, Annabeth. Argos will take you to the empire state but you must hurry remember you only have six days left to find this shell and return it to Aphrodite before the gods start fighting. Of course it won't be as big as the big three fighting but Zeus is their father and will no doubt get involved and start to accuse any one he can, and that would probably include his brothers who both like Hermes a lot and would side with him rather than their brother who tends to favour his daughters. You must hurry. Now get your things and go." Chiron ordered.

The demi-gods jogged past him and out of the pavilion to their cabins to grab their bags they had packed the night before.

* * *

Soon all four where in the strawberry van on the way to the empire state to question a goddess.

What could go wrong?


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for the late update but I had writers block and other stuff going on.**

**Thanks to everyone who favourited, reviewed, followed and all of that stuff.**

**Disclaimer: I challenged Rick Riordan to a tennis match and… he won. So all of the rights to the PJO and HOO series still belong to him. Dammit.**

**(By the way I forgot to mention that this fic is set just after the Titan war.)**

**Chapter 5.**

For whole journey Thalia and Nico glared at each other and didn't say a word. Percy and Annabeth sat next to each other shooting weary glances in their friends' directions.

Argus suddenly stopped the car and Percy checked out the window. The empire state was directly in front of him.

"Thanks Argus." He said as he stepped out of the strawberry van. Annabeth followed and grabbed his hand. Thalia and Nico both tried to exit at the same time and because they're both children of one of the big three they wanted to take up as much room as possible.

Percy and Annabeth watched them as they fought over who should go out first, it took so long that Percy and Annabeth were forced to grab one of their friends and carry them to the front desk in the empire state.

"Nico you little twerp. I should have gone first, not only am I a daughter of Zeus, the most powerful man there is, but I am also a lieutenant of Artemis which gets me extra high ranking." Thalia spat. Nico glared at her and tried to punch her but Percy was still carrying him.

Nico kicked and punch and bit but Percy was a lot stronger than Nico and still bore the Achilles curse so could withstand any beating Nico tried to give him.

"Thalia you're so flipping full of yourself. Jeez go and get a life. You run around with a bunch of old girls who like to camp. Yay, sounds like fun." Nico drawled. Thalia glared at him so hard that her eyes started to crackle and soon her skin was glowing with electricity. She shocked Annabeth who flew backwards.

"Annabeth are you okay?" Percy asked. He was about to run to her but saw an angry Thalia advancing towards him and Nico.

Nico yelped in Percy's arms and Percy put Nico down to stand in front of him.

"Thalia." He snapped. "Now is so not the time. Will you two just get along and stop trying to kill each other?"

"Thank you." Nico sighed.

"At least until we get back to camp." Percy finished. "Then it isn't my problem it's yours."

Nico paled a considerable amount.

"I guess I can wait." Thalia muttered with a shrug. Percy ran over to Annabeth and checked that she was okay. Percy helped her up and shot Nico and Thalia a warning glare as they walked into the empire state.

The four walked up to the desk.

"Hi um 600th floor please." Percy asked.

"There is no such thing." Drawled the receptionist he didn't even look up from his magazine to see who was addressing him.

"I think you ought to let us up, we have very important business with Aphrodite." Percy commented. That had sounded much better in his head, out loud though it just sounded wrong.

The receptionist looked up with a raised eyebrow and then noticed who it was.

"Oh hi… um you can go up right away." He said. He gave Percy the golden card key.

The four got into the elevator making sure that no one was with them, Percy inserted the card key into the slot and the button with 600 written on it in gold fancy writing appeared.

Annabeth pushed it and the elevator shot up like a bullet.

The four stepped on to Olympus and were met by the sounds of nymphs playing in the gardens, satyrs playing their pipes, and just your everyday stuff that you hear on mount Olympus.

They walked along the narrow bridge and up to the palace where they requested to see Aphrodite. A small nymph ran to get her and a second later there was a purple puff of smoke which Aphrodite appeared from looking as perfect as ever.

"Ah if it isn't my favourite little Percabeth, well the only Percabeth but still, my favourite." Aphrodite said gesturing between Annabeth and Percy.

"What?" They asked in unison. Aphrodite just smiled.

"What are you here for?" She asked ignoring their question.

"Well we would like to ask you about your shell. You know the one you lost and are blaming Hermes for it?" Thalia said.

"Oh that. I know Hermes did it." Aphrodite said airily while flicking her hair.

"Hermes insists that he didn't if he did then he'd be proud of it but at the moment he's in hiding and saying that he definitely didn't do it. So we're now looking for it for you and him." Nico said. Aphrodite paused and bit her lip.

"Well if you insist on looking for it I suppose I could help you. It's a small shell and it's a pinkie whitie colour. It was given to me by- um never mind." Aphrodite stopped herself and smiled. "That's it really." She said sweetly.

"Who gave it to you?" Annabeth asked. Aphrodite said nothing.

"Please tell us, we'll be able to find it quicker and I bet we'll find out anyway on the quest." Annabeth insisted.

"It was a present form Ares, one of the first presents he ever gave me. I really want it back. It is absolutely imperative I get it back." Aphrodite stared off into the distance and seemed to be remembering when Ares gave it to her.

"Um… Aphrodite?" Percy asked. She snapped out of it and focused on him.

"Let's go guys, it isn't worth looking for now." Thalia said bluntly. She turned and began to walk out of the throne room and the others began to follow but Aphrodite moved as fast as lightning (excuse the expression) and stopped them.

"No you must find it." She said she had a crazy look in her eyes and the demi-gods took a weary step back.

"I don't think we need to it's not like it's really important. It's just a present from Ares." Nico said with a shrug. Aphrodite glared at him and he took another step back.

"No, you will look for it and you will find it. It isn't just a present that Ares gave me; it's the only present Ares gave me. Our love is strong and that shell keeps me faithful for our love every day. Love is a strong kind of magic, the strongest magic there is and without that shell I may just give up my job and leave everyone lonely in this world." She sobbed and knelt down on the floor and burst into tears.

"Well this couldn't have turned out any better." Percy muttered sarcastically.

"Oh… um…. Well I guess we could try and search for it but-" Annabeth began.

"Oh thank you Annie, I'll never forget this, don't worry. I will pay you back all of you. Now off you go have fun." Aphrodite said quickly standing up. It didn't seem like she'd been crying at all, her makeup hadn't smudged and her eyes weren't red or puffy. She shooed the demi-gods out of the palace and kept on shooing them all the way to the edge of Olympus, she stuffed them into the elevator and sent them down with a small wave.

"How do you think she'll pay us back?" Nico asked. Everyone looked at him and then at each other and shuddered.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi, so sorry for the long, late update and I don't really have much of an excuse apart from writers block. So sorry again but now on with the story.**

**Oh and thanks to all who favourited, followed, reviewed and all that jazz.**

**Disclaimer: I challenged Rick to a writing contest, which now that I think about it was pretty stupid, he won anyway so he still owns the PJO and HOO series. Lucky.**

**Chapter 6.**

Outside the empire state the demi-gods looked around for somewhere to sit while they decided what to do next.

"That was so unhelpful." Thalia muttered. The others nodded their heads in agreement.

"Yeah but it's not like she's the smartest goddess there is." Annabeth said.

"No shit." Nico muttered looking sidelong at Annabeth.

"Well we need to think of somewhere to go. We can't just stand here all day and wait. Oh and we have a time limit. Of course." Percy said, muttering the last part.

"We should probably look into who would want to steal it." Annabeth said. They all nodded in agreement.

"Yeah that's a great idea but could we get some food while we think of this?" Percy asked already starting to walk towards the nearest restaurant which was just a small café.

Nico followed eagerly while Annabeth and Thalia slowly trailed behind shaking their heads.

"Boys." Thalia muttered in disgust.

"Always thinking with their stomachs." Annabeth agreed. The two girls wandered into the café after the boys and found them already sat at a table ordering.

"Thanks for waiting." Thalia said while sliding into the booth and sitting next to Nico who shuffled slightly in the other direction but couldn't go very far because Percy was in his way.

"Yeah you're welcome." Nico muttered. Percy smiled at Thalia and ruffled his hair saying; "What do you want to eat cus?"

Thalia smirked at Annabeth's face behind Percy. She looked like she'd just been slapped between the eyes.

"Why has everyone else ordered?" Thalia asked. Percy shrugged.

"Yeah, Nico ordered his and I ordered mine and Annabeth's." He said. Thalia sighed in annoyment. So he had done something nice for Annabeth, no chance of her getting in Annabeth's or Percy's face about it.

"Well I'm not hungry." Thalia said snootily.

"Suit yourself." Percy turned to Annabeth who was making goo goo eyes at him. They started talking but Thalia blanked out as she thought of all the gods who'd want to steal something from Aphrodite.

She couldn't think of anyone straight away apart from Hermes because he's the god of thieves but she already knew that he hadn't done it- well that's what he said and she couldn't just take his word for it.

Thalia thought about Ares. He didn't always seem so interested in Aphrodite so maybe he wanted to break up with her or something. So to take away the only present he ever gave her he would really be getting the point across and marking it as a 'never getting back together' break up.

"Bloody hell I sound like Taylor Swift." Thalia muttered to herself.

"What?" Nico asked looking at her as though she'd gone mad. "Has Dionysus got to you?" He asked. Thalia glared at him.

"Shut up dead brain." She spat. "Hey guys." She said trying to get Percy and Annabeth's attention, they were both talking and Annabeth was giggling and blushing and Thalia couldn't see Percy's face but she wasn't too concerned with what he was doing.

"What Thals?" Annabeth asked looking round Percy who also turned to her.

"I think we should go and question Ares about it. He's the one who gave her the shell as a symbol of their love and all that crap- so maybe he wanted to end it or something." Thalia said letting them in on her brainwaves.

"That's a good point." Percy muttered. "Eh I'd love to see Ares again I mean he's like my favourite cousin."

"What?" Thalia and Nico both shouted at once. The older people in the café looked at them in irritation and they sunk back in their chairs to make themselves smaller. Percy smirked at them.

"I was joking okay?" He said. The two folded their arms and huffed facing dead ahead.

"We should go." Thalia said eventually.

"What? But our food isn't here yet. Do you want me to starve?" Percy complained.

"Tough luck cus." Thalia shot out of the booth and Nico followed, obviously not interested in eating for a change.

As Percy and Annabeth walked out hand in hand looking confused after their friends they heard some of the people in the café mutter 'teenagers'.

"So where do we find Ares?" Nico asked once Annabeth and Percy had reached him and Thalia standing at the edge of the road watching the traffic.

"Well why not go to an army museum or something and then find a private place, call his name and boom he's there answering to us. Kinda." Percy said. They all had to admit that it wasn't a bad idea but it was Percy's something would go horribly wrong.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hiya people! Thanks to all who favourited, followed and you know the drill.**

**Disclaimer: Rick is just way too good so I gave up challenging him so he still owns the PJO and HOO series.**

**Chapter 7**

Annabeth had led her friends into a close by museum and it hadn't taken her long to find the military section.

They stood in the middle of a huge crowd that had gathered around a tank that had just been placed as a new part to the exhibit but the four weren't looking at the tank, they were looking around the huge room at the variety of people around them.

They saw no sign of Ares and no sign of a quiet, isolated space they could shout his name. At the moment they were just calling him in their heads and it wasn't working too well because they kept on breaking their concentration and focusing on the people and exhibits around them.

"Guys I just thought of something." Annabeth said to her friends. They turned to her and rolled their eyes.

"Surprise, surprise. Little Annie's thought of something else." Thalia mocked. Annabeth glared at her and Thalia matched it before laughing, making Annabeth laugh to.

"Yeah okay. Fine whatever I am not going to tell you if you're going to be like that." Annabeth said turning and sticking her nose up in the air.

"Awww come on Annabeth. Please?" Percy begged but Annabeth stayed perfectly still smiling to herself and since her back was to the other three, they couldn't see the glint in her eye.

"Yeah Beth- we should know. We must communicate if we're going to work together on this quest. It is imperative we let each other in the loop so we can protect each other. We don't want anyone getting hurt and the cause of keeping information from each other could leave to certain death." Nico said.

Thalia and Percy turned to him with a look that to Nico looked like they were trying to say; 'wow and that just came out of your mouth?'

"I can be deep to." Nico spat. He folded his arms and turned away from Percy and Thalia and stuck his nose up in the air putting on a tremendous pout they couldn't see.

"That wasn't deep- that was dumb." Percy said. Thalia nodded in agreement but Nico didn't turn around he stayed completely silent and still.

Percy and Thalia looked at each other- now Annabeth and Nico were annoyed at them. They shrugged and turned back to the exhibits.

They scooted away from Annabeth and Nico and soon parted. Thalia got distracted by the older weapons like bows and arrows at the other end of the room nearer to Annabeth and Nico, leaving Percy alone looking at the guns while trying to summon Ares.

A big kid with short black hair pushed passed Percy. Percy moved to the side and looked at the guy who'd pushed him out the way, it wasn't a guy Percy was looking to fight with but Percy had grown more confident each year with becoming the savior of camp and the world.

"Um hi. I think the word you were looking for then was excuse me." Percy said tapping the big guy on the shoulder.

He turned around and growled at Percy- Percy got a full on look into his mouth to see a row of sharp yellow teeth.

Once the guy had backed away and returned to examining the rifles Percy wiped a bit spit out of his eye and scowled at the guy.

"Dude, you need a tic-tac." Percy said. The guy turned around to face Percy and his eyes went from your average green to your not so average murderous red.

Percy took a step back raising his arms in defence. He would have pulled out riptide but he was sure the guy that was advancing towards him was mortal so Riptide would have no effect. And the guy would probably think he was taking out a tube of mints or something and then get even more offended.

"You know man, violence isn't always the answer. With me it mostly is I mean I end up chopping my enemies into tiny pieces or chopping off their heads, but with you it doesn't have to be this way. With me I have no choice because I face murderous villains who'd turn me to stone or eat me or send me to a titan lord of worse. I'm nothing like that so there's no need to try and kill me. So I think we should just walk away from this and grab a pack of chewing gum on the way out." Percy said pointing to the door.

But the guy got even angrier lifted up his hand to strike Percy down. Only when it was about to make contact with Percy body did he realise there was a knife held tightly in the hand.


End file.
